More

Christmas morning - new clothes etc! Also Christmas day at Grandma's!

A few Christmas Photos

I am too tired to post much - I've been spending an inordinate time on my laptop doing research and the like (more on that later)... however, before I forget, here are some photos from Christmas this year! The first few are of Ian and the kids painting ornaments on Christmas eve (a tradition - we now have 20 hand-painted ornaments on the tree!) and then there are a few of Christmas morning... excuse the wet face of Luci - poor darling came down with a horrible cold a few days prior to Christmas day!

Violin Recital

With so much happening this Christmas season, it's hard to keep this blog updated! However, since I have abandoned my Christmas card letters (the cards themselves I still have hope for...), I had best do some updating on here!

Earlier this month we had Lili's very first violin recital! It was all very exciting. She got to wear her Christmas dress, and we spent the afternoon doing her hair and nails (she is a girly-girl, truly). She didn't seem nervous. I was. Anyway, it was SO adorable, seeing the three of them from her Prep class on stage, looking very shocked at all of the people. Funny thing - as soon as Lili walked up on stage, I noticed that she had a HUGE hole in her tights... I'm talking full-knee-hole. Pretty funny! Luckily, her tights were fairly sheer, so not many people noticed!

The Prep Class played 2 songs - the "Taka" song and "See the Pretty Flowers". Lili had these songs down pat - she'd been playing them 3x each every day for months. However, as those musician friends reading this know, the funny thing about performing is that anything can happen.

And, it did.

The first song is played entirely on the open E string. Lili must have got confused, because she moved to the A string for the second phrase. Her eyes got really wide as she realized her mistake, and she immediately looked at me for help. I smiled and nodded in encouragement. She finished the song fine, but I could see the worry starting to work its' way into her brain. The next song requires actually putting fingers down - just one! However, most likely because she was still thinking about her earlier error (oh how many times has this happened), her concentration was off and she forgot to even get her fingers onto the fingerboard. Thus, she played the entire song on the open E and A string. At the end of the song, I could see the fear in her eyes, but she still smiled and bowed.

When she returned to her seat, we heaped praise on her, and she seemed fine. However, later that night, I heard her crying in her room. I snuggled into bed with her, and we whispered back and forth about nothing at all. I waited. Finally, it came. "Mommy...did you ever make a big mistake while you were performing?" "ALL THE TIME" I whispered back. "Mommy... did you ever play the wrong song while you were performing?" "UH HUH" I whispered back, eyes wide. "Mommy... do you still love me even though I didn't do super-good?" "More than ever" I whispered back.

Even though it was a difficult experience, it's one that is smothered in lessons. Don't let your mistakes show...don't let one mistake distract you...anything can happen during performances, so be prepared...mommy loves you no matter how you play...and, always bring extra tights!

She seems eager for her next performance...I know I am! I just hope that she remembers how much fun she had, and doesn't focus on the small, tiny mistakes.

Here are some pictures, and the video of the "taka" song!

More Photos

Party Over!

Well, the party is over!

Honestly, it was both a success and a disaster. I baked and baked all week, and had a lot of fun. I ended up leaving 2 planned dishes off of the menu - only because the day of the party the phone started ringing and the cancellations started rolling in. Between delayed flights, illnesses and surprise visits from out of town friends, (not to mention the absolutely horrible weather), the party went from 20 to just a handful. We ended up with 6 people - just not at the same time.

Needless to say, there was more food than necessary. I will admit I was a little sad that all of my careful preparations were pretty much unnecessary. However, I had a great time putting it all together (thanks to a good friend and two bottles of wine the night before!) and have added some of the recipes to my all-time favourites list.

Food aside, we had a great time. I'll admit I started drinking early (read: as soon as the 8th cancellation called), and Ian joined me as soon as he got home from work. It was actually really nice to sit and enjoy an hour just the two of us! Once the guests arrived, we all mingled and ate for awhile. A few had to leave early to go to another commitment, which left us with 5. A perfect number to play Cranium! We had a LOT of fun with that - even if Ian got quite competitive (Ian? Never.) This was my first time playing this, and I thought it was hilarious.

After Cranium we played some Rock Band II, but I didn't get into it as much as usual - Luci decided that she wanted to join in the excitement and refused to go to sleep. So I called it a night and snuggled into bed with Luci... in many ways, it was the perfect end to the evening.

Anyway, I'm not sure that we will host another Christmas party. Everyone is just SO busy at this time of year. I had fun planning it, but with such an unreliable turnout, the cost just isn't worth it.

Here are some pictures of the food... I'm no photographer (honestly, I'm still using my first digital camera, which is about 4 years old this week - and about 4 megapixels) but I'm sure you get the idea.

The menu included:
Vegetable Christmas Tree
Peppermint Merangue Wreaths
Homemade mint fundge
Creme de Menthe Cheesecake
White Chocolate Cranberry Mousse Cake
Devilled Eggs
Rice Krispie Ornaments
Brownie Lollipops
Assorted Chocolates and Candies

The two items I chose not to make were - Christmas Stocking Cake and Garlic Mozza Breadballs.



PS - the veggie tree was my favourite...